World Events
Topic: What is a Christian to you?

#	Author	Message
181	utahjosh Mon 5/5/2008 7:23a	I'm still surprised that people think having Faith is a mental health problem.
182	Mr X Mon 5/5/2008 7:54a	That's not what was said, Josh, and I think you know that. Involvement in cults can cause extreme mental health issues, that's been proven.
183	utahjosh Mon 5/5/2008 8:11a	Yes, but definitions of a "cult" vary wildly from person to person, and from group to group. The LDS church may be "cult-like" to some people, but it is not dangerous and does not cause me any mental health issues.
184	Mr X Mon 5/5/2008 8:23a	Miriam Webster on "cult". 1: formal religious veneration : worship 2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents 3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents 4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults> 5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b: the object of such devotion c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion With the exception of number 4 (I think), I'd have to say the shoe fits on all counts here. But anyway the topic in question was whether or not Mormonism was dangerous, or any more or less dangerous than other religions or cults. I would like to hear why EighthDwarf finds it dangerous. One thing I've noticed is that there was an issue recently regarding "Rogue Mormons" and many of our LP mormons took offense at the choice of title CNN gave the article, and yet I think you could make the same argument for Mormons being "rogue christians", to bring this topic full circle.
185	utahjosh Mon 5/5/2008 8:52a	Or Christians being "rogue jews," right?
186	DisneyFreak96 Mon 5/5/2008 8:53a	<<Yes, but definitions of a "cult" vary wildly from person to person, and from group to group. The LDS church may be "cult-like" to some people, but it is not dangerous and does not cause me any mental health issues.>> That's great. The group I was in as a child didn't cause me mental health issues until later. Most people that are still in the group don't have them. But some do. I don't know about the LDS church, most of the folks I know in it seem pretty independent (except when they are serving missions obviously). This is what I use to define a cult: Milieu Control Mystical Manipulation The Demand for Purity The Cult of Confession The "Sacred Science" Loading the Language Doctrine Over Person The Dispensing of Existence http://www.rickross.com/refere...g19.html (Lifton's model) Here are a link I find handy on describing the fine line between religion and cult: http://www.rickross.com/refere...ng54.pdf
187	utahjosh Mon 5/5/2008 8:54a	<<Miriam Webster on "cult". 1: formal religious veneration : worship 2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents>>> If you want to take the first two definitions, ALL religions are cults. But let's be frank, the use of the word cult in the US is generally reserved for "weird religions" or "scary groups," neither of which the LDS Church is. (Well, weird is relative. Can't any belief in God be weird to some people?)
188	Mr X Mon 5/5/2008 8:54a	***Or Christians being "rogue jews," right?*** Sure.
189	utahjosh Mon 5/5/2008 8:56a	I think every member of LP is a member of a cult.
190	Mr X Mon 5/5/2008 8:57a	***But let's be frank, the use of the word cult in the US is generally reserved for "weird religions" or "scary groups," neither of which the LDS Church is.*** Um, since you brought it up... I'd have to say that whole wacky celestial kingdom concept, where well behaved Mormons get assigned to be the god of some planet or other and all its' inhabitants? Definitely "weird religion". No question.

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